Curse

striderkaaru · Jan 23, 2006, 06:22 PM // 18:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kassad

No, it equals your laying on your ass from being KD.

quoted for truth.
i really don't see how you can hope to finish casting a spell after being floored.

Guardian of the Light · Jan 23, 2006, 08:01 PM // 20:01

There are skill that prevent you from being knocked-down you know.....

Divineshadows · Jan 23, 2006, 08:45 PM // 20:45

Hella Good. I tend to agree with on your idea of attempting to counter interrupts and knockdowns. However, I think you are going about it the wrong way especially if you are thinking in the realm of PvP and GvG. It is far simpler to have several fast casting spells to reduce the window of an interrupt or knockdown impacting you. If you must dedicate one skill to a direct counter, then I would choose to counter interrupts and not knockdowns due to the faster recharge on interrupts over knockdowns and some of their nastier side effects. In addition, a mesmer or ele secondary is much more useful for a caster than a warrior secondary.

I use the following guidelines for cast times when designing a build to counter interrupts:

Monk - 1/4 to 1 second cast times
Ele - 1/4 to 2 second cast times
Necro - 1/4 to 2 second cast times
Mesmer - high fast casting attribute

This is not to say that every skill must fall within these time ranges, but certain 5 to 7 of your skills should AND you should still be functional without the longer casting spells. If you begin suffering from interrupts or knockdown, then avoid the use of the longer casting spells. Still elementalists and necromancers are very susceptible to interrupts (or interrupt via knockdown) even using these guidelines.

Other counters may lie not in your skill bar, but in that of your teammates' skill bars. Warriors are typically the class that use knockdowns (even ele skills like gale) due to their closeness to a target. Limit their effectiveness with blind and crippled conditions and you will limit their knockdown frequency.

Finally, other counters involve just using common sense when positioning yourself on the battlefield and to avoid triggering some of those conditional knockdowns like shield of judgement.

I think that in most cases knockdown > interrupt (excluding some of the nasty side effects of distracting shot, concussion shot, cry of frustration, power spike, power leak, and power block). Not only does knockdown interrupt any skill (whereas several interrupts are limited to just spells), it also renders the target immobile leaving them vunerable to a focused attack without the threat of them running. How to counter a warrior with backbreaker and lengthens knockdown gloves (which is even better than blackout)? Don't let them touch you or better yet blind the warrior or somehow cause them to miss or have a ranger on your team land a distracting shot on his backbreaker skill.